New York-area High Schoolers Build HotShot! Robots

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Back in December, Siobhan waxed nostalgic about her school days, when she posted about FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the Dean Kamen-founded competition that pits robots built by high school students against one another in a game of HotShot! (where the machines launch as many Wiffle balls into possible goals).

The teams, which are comprised of up to a dozen kids, are given a 1,200-part kit and a few guidelines. They are then required to build and program the robots, which for the first 30 seconds of the competition have to run autonomously. It's an ingenious way of inspiring the next generation to get into engineering.

Scientific American was on-hand to witness one of the 50 regional contests-which was held in New York City. Winning robots will compete in the national championships in Atlanta next month.

Here's some video from the event:



Photo (cc) via Flickr user asterix611.